'The only non-partisan rally this electoral campaign' is being held on May 17

Activist groups il-Kollettiv and Residenti taż-Żurrieq are rallying people at the Nigret area on May 17 to protest development on agricultural land.

The groups are claiming the rally will be the only non-partisan space throughout the electoral campaign.

The meeting is being held at 10am at the site of an 11,500 sqm area slated for the development of apartments and garages on agricultural land.

The Nigret area had been earmarked for development under the 2006 'rationalisation' scheme.

Developer James Barbara then submitted a planning control application signed by former PN planning minister George Pullicino. The PA’s executive council voted unanimously to allow development to take place on the arable land in July 2023.

The rezoning application was endorsed by Minister Clint Camilleri in December 2024, a year after he took over the Ministry from Stefan Zrinzo Azzopard.

Four separate planning applications were then filed in the past two months, prompting residents to organise a campaign to gather objections against each individual application. 

In a statement on Wednesday, Il-Kollettiv expressed its disappointment at the way the residents’ elected representatives were "completely refusing to engage in the discussion about overconstruction, traffic and overpopulation in the district, especially as Żurrieq is one of the towns bearing the brunt of George Pullicino’s rationalisation exercise of 2006".

The group said there were similar applications threatening the quality of life of residents in neighbouring Safi, Qrendi, Mqabba, Siġġiewi, and Birżebbuġa, most of which involve government-owned land and approvals from the Lands Authority.

“While the government condemns plots of this size to development with a simple stroke of a pen, Project Green will be pumping its chest at the opening of a garden 10 times smaller across town,” the group said. 

The conference, titled Għan-Nigret, Għal Kulħadd (For Nigret, for Us All), is open to residents of various towns around Malta, some of whom will be addressing the event.